Would ebay make more money by reducing fees?

[cachebaroque]

The fees are too high my local auction house charges a flat 20% and I do nothing except drop the stuff off. Ebay has great buyers but only because sellers sell so cheap to drag buyers away from other sites. I just wonder how many more sellers they could attract by reducing fees. I truly feel they could make more money by lower fees and more sellers. I dont like the interface its not convenient the reports aren't suitable to small time sellers. I've done 10k in less than 3 months and the fees are insane. At this point its cheaper to just post on pintrest and take orders over the phone. Ebay thinks by adding more options and sales information they are providing a better service but what would be absolutely great is simplification - efficiency is best. You are not Amazon you never will be stop trying to be what your not and embrace what made you great in the first place.

[rschissler]

Ebay makes money from sales, and more sellers doesn't mean more sales.  More buyers is the only real way to increase sales.

[soh.maryl]

We can speculate about this til the cows come home, but it's never going to happen, so why waste time and energy on it? 

[jda04121]

If McDonalds lowered their prices would they sell more burgers? 

[johnjefprks]

Yes

[downunder-61]

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@jda04121 wrote:

If McDonalds lowered their prices would they sell more burgers? 

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Of course they would, would they make more profit though? 

Any seller's here can lower their prices and have a BIG increase in sales by doing so, but.......................

[coolections]

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@cachebaroque wrote:

my local auction house charges a flat 20% and I do nothing except drop the stuff off.

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That is a great deal. If people are actually buying and you are getting the prices you want, then stick with what works.

[sextons-sweet-deals]

You have done 10K in the last three months on eBay? BRAVO! Why the complaint?

where is this 10k from? eBay and / or the auction house?

You mention a local auction house at a 20% fee and all you have to do is drop it off. That can raise questions / concerns.  Are they looking out for you or themselves? Are they listing on eBay or is this just a local community auction? Could be they are telling you they sold, pay you a fee and then sell themselves for a bigger profit?

Dropping off and paying 20% with not having to do research, take photos, and then spend your time to list your item with detail description doesn't see too bad to me. 

very open conversation here!

[dbfolks166mt]

     I also utilize a couple of local consignment auction houses to move some merchandise usually fragile items or large/heavy items that would be cost prohibitive to ship and items that you cannot list on eBay. Depending on the auction house the fees vary some have a lower rate to the seller but they tack on a buyers premium that splits the fees between the buyer and the seller. 

    Some are simply local auctions with local pickup but others have a broad base and will ship. There are also virtually NO restrictions on what you can consign to the auction house. One I use even has a Federal Firearms License and will handle firearms and ammunition sales. 

     If they happen to ship the risk management is taken on by the auction company as are risks associated with returns. I find the auction prices often exceed what a like item would have sold for on eBay or any other ecommerce site. 

[sakic92710]

For myself, I find the fees extremely low on weekends.........because I don't get any sales for those 2 days now!!!!   lol  I haven't had any sales on weekends for a month.

[lamber9347]

You can't compare an online platform such as eBay to a local auction house. Of course, all you do is drop off your items, it's a live in person auction!! People will see your items in person, can hold them and touch them. You are comparing online selling to that? Plus, you've sold 10K in less than 3 months online and are still complaining? Sounds like a lot of hyperbole to me ....

[anjofak]

We drop 200-300 off they get listed and all sell in a 2 week online auction 100% sold, only every month for over a year and a half. Buyers are out there, when we first started selling here our traffic numbers were about 80% from outside the bay..should have got a check for that..

[anjofak]

I would say if they are using the same internet as the rest of the world wide web 🌐 🕸, yes you can compare the 2.

[rocn-6211]

How ironic! I find the majority of my sales come over the weekend. I send offers out on Fridays, maybe that would help you as well.

[rocn-6211]

I don't feel like fees are too high. I researched fees on several online marketplaces before devoting my time to eBay. EBay's fees are comparable or lower than most I found. I do concede that fees hit harder when selling lower priced items due to the thirty cent charges. I have also read that becoming a "top rated" seller lowers your fees.